Amanda Holmes reads Lucille Clifton’s “New Bones.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
In this first episode of a three-part series on lethal injection in the United States, guest hosts Steve Monacelli and Dr. Michael Phillips describe the futile quest for a “humane” form of execution, from the 1600s to the present day. They explore how each one has turned out to be extremely violent, prompting authorities to move such “gruesome spectacles” out of public view. Finally, they describe how the prospect of a televised execution in the electric chair led to the lethal injection protocol, pioneered by Texas in 1982.
Sources:
Corinna Barrett Lain, Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (New York: New York University Press, 2025.)
Michael Phillips and Betsy Friauf, The Purifying Knife: The Troubling History of Eugenics in Texas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2025.)
Austin Sarat, Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014.)
Ryan is joined by Greg Foster, CTO of Graphite, to explore how much we should trust AI-generated code to be secure, the importance of tooling in ensuring code security whether it’s AI-assisted or not, and the need for context and readability for humans in AI code.
Episode notes:
Graphite is an AI code review platform that helps you get context on code changes, fix CI failures, and improve your PRs right from your PR page.
Connect with Greg on LinkedIn and keep up with Graphite on their Twitter.
Jasper Nathaniel is back with another report from the occupied West Bank. He tells us about a band of West Bank settlers attacking him and locals in the olive fields of Turmus’ayya, including an old woman who was beaten unconscious on camera. He then talks about the Israeli military and intelligence’s response to the crime, the footage actually breaking through to the mainstream Anglophone press, and various U.S. Senators’ response to the attack. Finally, he closes with speculation about Trump and Netanyahu’s refusal to sign on to an official West Bank annexation.
Follow Jasper’s substack: https://substack.com/@infinitejaz
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In our news wrap Monday, famine has spread to two regions of war-torn Sudan, Israel transferred the bodies of 45 Palestinians to Gaza after Hamas handed over the remains of three Israeli hostages, Nigerian officials are pushing back after President Trump suggested U.S. troops may go in "guns-a-blazing" and part of a medieval tower in Rome collapsed. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
Authorities in Israel detained the military’s top lawyer, a two-star general, and accused her of leaking a video that allegedly shows Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian detainee. The saga renews an intense debate about how the legal system treats Israeli soldiers and Palestinian detainees. Nick Schifrin reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
Singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman has been hailed as one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from the American South in recent years. Raised in the small river town of Hickman, Kentucky, Goodman blends country, rock and folk into songs that wrestle with faith, identity and the meaning of home. Geoff Bennett spoke with her for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
The Trump administration has been court ordered to partially fund this month’s SNAP benefits, after refusing to step in during the shutdown. Emergency USDA funds will cover about half of the $8 billion spent each month on the food assistance program. But it’s unclear how long households could wait for the partial benefits to kick in. Also in this episode: The manufacturing sector appears to be “meh,” OPEC ups production despite global oil glut, and the U.S. races to catch up on rare earth elements.
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